OTD in early British television: 2 September 1938
John Wyver writes: Tucked into an upbeat, celebratory schedule from Radiolympia in the early evening of Friday 2 September 1938 was a television reminder of the ‘war-mindedness’ of these days running up to the Munich crisis. In a five-minute slot at 6.20pm Captain Harold Balfour made an appeal over the airwaves recruiting wireless operators for the RAF.
Harold Balfour, a Conservative MP, was Under-Secretary of State for Air, with a distinguished First World War record as a fighter pilot. He spoke from Olympia, where the Radio Manufacturers’ Association had provided facilities to the RAF’s Civil Wireless Reserve to set up a booth to deal with enquiries. As a Daily Telegraph article trailing the broadcast noted,
A large percentage of eligible wireless enthusiasts. professional and amateurs. are either visiting the exhibition or employed on the stands.
Image: Flying Officer R W Stewart, a wireless operator on board an Avro Lancaster B Mark I of No. 57 Squadron RAF based at Scampton, Lincolnshire, speaking to the pilot from his position in front of the Marconi TR 1154/55 transmitter/receiver set; Royal Air Force official photographer, Clark N S (Plt Off), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
[OTD post no. 259; part of a long-running series leading up to the publication on 8 January 2026 of my book Magic Rays of Light: The Early Years of Television in Britain, which can now be pre-ordered from Bloomsbury here.]
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